Is Your Sales Team Representing Your Brand to the Fullest?

Salespeople are one of your company’s main brand ambassadors. They are in most cases the first human interaction people have with your business and are essential to how you engage with the public. Because of this, it is important to make sure you put people in these roles that can not only do their job well but do so in a way that leaves a lasting impression.

Here are some general principles I like to go by when finding the right person for a sales role:

Hire likable people that are passionate about selling - Sales can be a tough grind so hire people that get excited about doing the job. They should love making calls, meeting people, having conversations, and most of all wooing customers and winning business.

Listen more and speak less - The most effective sellers are empathic and ask the best questions. By asking good questions you give your customers a chance to open up about the things that matter most to them. By listening, you gain insight into everything you need to accommodate your customers’ needs giving you a greater chance of winning the deal.

Knowledge is power - Your sales staff should not only be company product experts. They should also be students of the industry. They can achieve this by reading, actively participating in professional groups, getting involved on social media, trade shows and conferences, and by meeting with a mentor. Pushing themselves to be immersed in what is happening industry-wide will give them greater perspective when talking with prospects.

Follow a system that works - Jack Daly says it best when he talks about systems and process or following a sales playbook. He pushes this because it’s true. Every company has a “best way” to tackle every sales step and it should be documented and taught to every seller. Doing so will create consistency among your team and will ensure that every prospect interaction will be delivered the same way. Be leery when a seller refuses to adopt your methods and as Jack would put it demands that they stick to “their own style”.

Act as if the company is your own - Each seller should be emotionally invested in providing the best experience possible and should represent the company like it was their own. By thinking this way, it gives more mental accountability to do good work on every task. This is up to company leadership on how they want to drive this behavior but it’s important to instill this mindset if you want to drive excellence at every turn.

Always over deliver - Good salespeople deliver what they promise. Great sellers go beyond their customers’ expectations…way beyond! This can be achieved in several ways but a few things to always be mindful of are:

Recap every call or meeting with a set of to-do’s and list them back to the customer with detail and specificity.

Explain to them how you are going to address each issue and ask.

Send a thank you of some sort for taking the meeting even if it was a phone call.

Always deliver a proposal ahead of schedule and make sure it’s professional in appearance and without a single mistake.

Include an unexpected promotion or offer that is within company parameters.

Put your customers in the best position to win even if it means losing the business to a competitor.

With these six points, you should have a good base to learn from and build off. It’s important to note that there isn’t a silver bullet that works 100 percent of the time, but there is a magic formula for your business. With some discovery and hard work, your company can put together the one that is right for you! Good luck!